Expectations for Book 7
Am typing this from a "Laptop Lane" PC in the Philadelphia airport on the way out of the country. Drafted the first few paragraphs yesterday; we'll see how much I can write in the 30 minutes I signed up to rent on the computer here.
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“Deathly Hallows” is a tough book to say very much interesting about in advance. There are some things about it that we know quite well (Harry, with Ron and Hermione, will spend the year going after Horcruxes before Harry’s final smackdown with Voldemort), or at least very probably (that R.A.B. was Regulus, and the “heavy locket they couldn’t open” was a Horcrux), so that there’s not too much to add there. There are some things that JKR has hinted about (the Flying Ford Anglia coming back, the business with the Invisibility Cloak when James and Lily died, the importance of Harry having his mother’s eyes) which sound interesting, but about which I can’t even think of any interesting speculations. And there are also some speculative possibilities which would be very cool if JKR used them, but which there’s no particular reason to think she’ll actually use (Tonks teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, the Mirror of Erised coming back one last time, Luna’s Patronus taking the form of a Crumple-Horned Snorkack).
But I have tried to think of at least a few interesting things that I can say, which will hopefully be at least a little bit more relevant than the Crumple-Horned Patronus idea:
1. The General Tone of the Book (see my pre-HBP post on a similar topic here): am expecting DH to be the best of the series, surpassing PoA. To do this would probably take a PoA-caliber flurry of revelations in the final sequence, followed by a Gollum-on-Mount-Doom Plot Twist To Rule Them All at the very end. But I don’t think I’m being too optimistic in thinking that JKR might actually pull it off (thus achieving a full 100 on my “Reading Fun Meter” from the pre-HBP post linked above).
(My biggest fear actually isn’t that the plot will be inadequate, but that JKR would make there be something central to the story that would implicitly ask the reader to buy in on some philosophical or moral point that I’d find unacceptable. The few points of disagreement I’ve had with the stories so far are not major issues for me; but if [hypothetically] she turned into something resembling Philip Pullman [more or less] at the key moment, then it could pretty much spoil the whole series for me. I don’t think she will, at least not beyond what I’d find an acceptable limit; so far she’s mostly stayed within the “Western Consensus” of things that most people in our culture would share, whether religious or otherwise. But the small chance that she’ll do things otherwise, now that she’s finishing, does lurk in my mind a bit. Hopefully nothing will come of this.)
2. I expect Book 7 to be the “ultimate Trio story”-that it will be the last great adventure for Harry, Ron, and Hermione as three best friends, before they go off into adult life as two couples (including Ginny with Harry). None of the books so far have had all three of them working together for the whole book. CoS came the closest, as their friendship there was interrupted only by Hermione being unconscious for two months. But in PS the boys weren’t getting along with Hermione before the Troll incident; in PoA there was the Cat/Rat conflict; in GoF Ron was upset about Harry’s fame and wealth; in OotP Harry was being kind of cranky with everybody; and in HBP we had that Won-Won/Lav-Lav ship trying unsuccessfully to sail. But in DH I expect that Harry will need the best that each of them has to offer (as in the Through the Trapdoor chapter of PS); and I expect that Ron and Hermione will both come through with flying colors.
3. I continue to expect that the hints of Harry not returning to school will turn out to be only a red herring, and that Harry will indeed return at least for most of the year. How he'll be persuaded to return, I don't know. But JKR's comments at various points have always seemed to indicate that Harry has always been planned to have 7 years at Hogwarts, and I would think it easier for the non-return plan to be shot down than for "seven years at Hogwarts" to not actually mean that. (Recall also JKR's hint that we might see the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw common rooms.)
4. But I expect that Harry and Ginny really will keep their relationship on hold until Voldemort is vanquished. Recall that JKR told Melissa and Emerson: "Well, I always knew that that was going to happen, that they were going to come together and then part." The parting is real, and I'm convinced that it's not a mistake on Harry's part (the way stumbling into Snape's Pensieve, or getting fooled into the Dept. of Mysteries trip, was a mistake). Nevertheless Ginny won't be purely in the background: "She does some pretty impressive stuff here and there, and you'll see that again."
5. One interesting question, which I don't think I've seen discussed (although I've been such an infrequent fandom lurker that I could easily have missed it) is: How much will Dumbledore's portrait know? The portraits do seem to remember some things from their lives (recall Phineas saying about how he always hated students). My guess is that the portrait will know some key things, but not everything (otherwise all of Harry's work would be done for him). (What would be even more interesting-- though of course it's not likely-- would be if Dumbledore's joke about the Chocolate Frog cards turned out to be relevant.)
6. I'll also be interested to see if the House unity theme comes back. I don't think JKR owes it to us, and I won't be particularly disapponted if she doesn't; but it could be interesting. In particular, Slughorn, whatever his faults, seems like the sort of Slytherin that Harry can work with, even if Harry doesn't entirely approve of all his views; while Snape, even at his best, didn't really make himself easy to work with. The Theodore Nott backstory would also be interesting here, although I think the odds are against that coming into the story as published.
7. I'm also hoping for a return of the DA in some form (though, again, I think it's less than 50-50). It would be particularly cool if the DA started to use Patronus communication like the Order does.
8. No idea how the Order will function in Dumbledore's absense-- I'm sure they won't disband (!), but don't know if some individual like Moody or McGonagall would become the leader, or if there would be a council of core members, or if they'd do everything by majority vote, or what.
9. I expect at least one big emotional death, but am not sure who. Hagrid and Molly are my two leading candidates for it-- losing Molly would sting more. Am leaning slightly toward Hagrid, I guess. Not sure what Grawp would do if Hagrid died; I suppose there'd be a certain poetic justice in having Lucius end up getting scraped off the bottom of Grawp's boots. (I do expect at least one Weasley to die, though.)
10. Am still leaning toward Draco being dead before the beginning of the story. I don't think he needs to do anything further to be (at least somewhat) redeemed; Harry knows Draco wouldn't have gone through with killing Dumbledore. (Indeed, I'm not entirely dismissing the possibility of JKR tossing a bouquet to our friends on board the Ghost Ship Draco/Myrtle....)
11. Am about 50/50 on Percy reconciling with the family. Could go either way. Am leaning very slightly in favor. But if he doesn't... well, we always knew this wasn't Disney.
...And I think that's about all I have time for. Enjoy the book, everybody!